


it will work

by hawrthiacoopri



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Sorry Not Sorry, This is just me wanting poly bi mike SO have fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-31 07:56:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8570578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawrthiacoopri/pseuds/hawrthiacoopri
Summary: "What is... cuddle?" El furrowed her eyebrow."Cuddling." He corrected. "And... It's like... It's like..." Mike searched for the word before grabbing Will. "Here, Will and I can show you." •or, Will and El need Mike to comfort them after sharing a nightmare.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Aaah hi!! I sorry I've been inactive for so long, schoolwork got super intensive which, paired with an aged fine wine of my executive dysfunction, got really overwhelming. But I'm back and I have more fic ideas!! Enjoy!

  
Will tossed and turned in his sleeping bag, the images inside his head seeming to weave into something almost tangible.

In his head, he was back in the Upside Down, Castle Byers collapsing in on him, the blankets that normally made him feel safer nowhere to be seen. He huddled against the wall, knees virtually attached to his chest they were so close, his breath stirring little white particles and creating puffs in the air. He heard a rustling and tensed, the frosty clouds stopping along with the rest of his movement. He squeezed his eyes shut, praying that whatever that thing was wouldn't notice him.

He heard the cloth on the front of the fort move and his body convulsed with a silent sob because this was it, he was going to die, he would never see Jonathan or mom or Mike- beautiful, gentle Mike- or Dustin and Lucas again, and his eyes were pooling with tears now because this was the end...

Will was cut off by a light touch on his shoulder, and he looked up out of sheer force of habit. In front of him kneeled a little girl, barely taller than he was, with short-cropped hair and wearing a tattered pink dress that he was sure he'd seen Nancy wear before. She had wide, brown eyes; almost like Mike's, but lighter, more autumnal, and she was trying to smile at him. But she, too, was crying, most likely more out of giddiness than terror on her part.

"Will." She whispered, grabbing his hand.

"Yes," he breathed, laughter bubbling up in his chest cavity, and just as he was about to let a smile break across his face for the first time in weeks, Castle Byers collapsed on top of them, the girl grasping at Will's hand for dear life and Will's excitement that this stranger somehow knew his name, that someone else was here with him, at least, changing into terror and pain, his back bending at a weird angle and his throat raw from screaming. He could hear it coming.

Will jolted awake, sitting up in a cold sweat, tears pooling in his eyes. He attempted to control his erratic breathing, not wanting to wake up the others. They didn't need to listen to him cry about his stupid nightmares again...But El was also sitting up, he noticed, and she seemed to be just as distressed as he was. He got up as fast as he could, creeping to her side on Mike's bed and turning on the bedside lamp.

"El?" He asked nervously, quietly, no longer worried about waking Mike; he'd want to comfort El if she was scared.  
"What's going on?" Mike sat up next to her, rubbing his eyes and putting a steady hand on El's own. Will almost smiled at how cute he looked with his hair mussed up like that, how his little kitten yawns were the most adorable things he'd ever seen. "Will, what happened?"

"I- I don't know." he stammered, trying to ignore the gnawing in his stomach, "I just woke up and she was like this."

"Was just trying to help," El crumpled into herself, trying to make herself smaller. "I didn't mean to make it come down, I'm sorry..."

"Wait, what did you say?" Wil sat in front of El. "Come down? What does that mean?" Mike shot him a look, as if to say, _don't push it with her right now_.

"It came down. I tried to save you but it went wrong, the house fell down." Will's eyes widened.

"The house? What house? My house?"

She nodded, adding, "the little one."  
"El, are you talking about Castle Byers?" Mike broke in, looking nervously at Will.

She nodded again, vigorously this time.

"I had that dream too!" Will said, a little too loudly. El looked at him quizzically. "Yeah, I was in it in the- the place- and you came and then the whole fort collapsed. Right on top of us, and-" he stopped as he noticed El was starting to shut off, tears dripping onto the comforter from vacant eyes.

"El? Can you look at me?" Mike threaded his hand through her short hair, and she leaned into his touch, the life bleeding back into her body. "Do you want to stop now?" she nodded and looked at Will apologetically. "Do you want to..." Mike searched for the word, saying, embarrassed, "Cuddle?"

"What is... cuddle?" El furrowed her eyebrow.

"Cuddling." He corrected. "And... It's like... It's like..." Mike searched for the word before grabbing Will. "Here, Will and I can show you." Will gulped, nodding in consent and settling in the crook of his friend's body, trying to stay still. Mike noticed, saying lightly, "you usually don't to cuddle with someone who is tense, like Will is right now, though." Will instantly relaxed at the tone of his voice, out of both compliance with Mike's semi-order and the way Mike's chest was flush against his, how Mike's nose was brushing his forehead at the vast height difference between the two boys, despite Mike's bent position. Will was barely five feet tall, only growing four inches in three years, while Mike had shot up to almost eight inches taller than him in the same amount of time. "See?" 

El nodded out of Will's line of vision, which was now confined to the rise and fall of Mike's chest. Will wasn't complaining. "And then sometimes," Mike continued, "if you really like the person you're with, you can kiss them." He quickly grabbed Will's face, fixing a kiss onto his lips and holding it there for a moment. "Like that!" he said it more to Will than to El, and he grinned foolishly. Will shook it off, a surprised smile of his own creeping onto his lips. Mike cocked an eyebrow, mouthing a, _you okay?_ at him like he'd just handed Will a newspaper and not just turned a million fantasies into a singular, solid reality.

Will nodded, and he was about to break away when El suddenly peeked over, sliding in between them and effectively breaking the momentary bond. "Like this?" She pressed a kiss onto Mike's cheek... And then then turned over and pressed one onto Will's.

"Yes, like that." Mike laughed, absently carding a hand through Will's hair and hugging both of them tighter.  
El curled an arm under Mike's waist and pulled him closer, sighing happily and twining her legs around Will's. She settled down, starting to hum some song Holly had taught her, and shut the light off. Will, taken aback by her position, put his head on her shoulder and stared at Mike's face, only noticing he was smiling back when Mike pushed the hair out of Will's eyes.

"Hey." Mike's eyes danced, his soft, pink lips parting and his freckles seeming to condense as the sides of his eyes crinkled.

"Hey."

What're you doing?"

"Nothing. Looking at you."

Mike took El's hand, using it to point at him and then kissing it, causing El to giggle sleepily. "I'm looking at you, too."

"I'm glad we're on the same page," Will murmured, ghosting a hand over El's hair and skimming a hand through it, swirling patterns up and down her neck.

"That tickles, Will," El protested, grabbing his hand and pulling the short boy's arm down to rest on Mike's collar bone.

They all lay like that for a while, Mike and Will on either side is El, facing each other, Will's palms pressed on Mike's chest and Mike's arm draped over the other two. El was nuzzled into Mike's chest, lips curved into a smile. She eventually drifted off, her hands curled up on Mike's chest along with Will's own and her legs wrapped around Will's. Geez- both of these people were taller than him. When did  
that start? Will tapped Mike's shoulder.

"Hey, Mike?" he said softly.

"Yeah?" Mike stretched, putting a hand on the small of Will's back.

"How can this work?"

"Huh?" Mike looked at him for a minute.

"You being with El and I. At the same time."

"Oh." His voice rang with realization. "I'm not sure."

"I'm not saying it can't," Will said quickly, "just... How?"

"I mean... I don't think El really cares who I'm with, as long  
as she likes them. And she likes you. I don't think she really understands relationships, honestly, so as long as she knows, she's probably fine. We'll ask her when she wakes up. And you... What do you think?"

"I'd love to date you," Will offered instantly. "I'm not so sure about dating El, but as long as you want to date her, I'm fine  
with it. What about you?"

"I don't know..." Mike looked around. "I want to date both of you, obviously, but I don't want either of you to feel jealous. Because I love both of you, and I want this to work. But if you're cool with me dating both of you, and El is too, then it _will_ work."

"What will work?" El chimed in, looking at both of them and landing back on Mike.

"El, is it okay if I go out with Will?" Mike asked awkwardly, playing with a strand of her hair. "I'd still be with you, but also with him, you know?"

"I know," she confirmed. "Sure."

"Really?"

"Why should I care? I'm not dating him." Her words sounded as if they should be said angrily in their shortness, but they were filled with a sweetness and respect that Will had grown to love about El.

"Okay," a smile played Mike's face, and he grabbed both of their hands. "Cool!"

"Can I sleep now?" El groused, already laying back down.

"Yes, El." Mike rolled his eyes, looking delightedly at Will.  
"We did it!"

"Yeah," Will said breathlessly, resting his fingers tentatively on Mike's hip. "We did."

"Can I kiss you?" Mike blurted, much to Will's confusion. 

"Sorry," he apologized, "I just realized I didn't ask you the first time."

"Yeah!" Will smiled over El's sleeping figure. "Go for it."

And Mike did.

 

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**Author's Note:**

> Please give kudos and comment if you have questions of concerns!! Ily all <3


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